The historic BTU ratio of natural gas to crude oil is 6 MCF to 1 BBL crude oil. At today’s natural gas prices, this equates to a price of about $72 / BBL. With crude oil priced at $140 / BBL, CNG is selling at a discount of about 50%.
The cost of CNG in Utah is about $0.74/ gal and about $2.50 /gal in California compared to $4.00 / gal gasoline. World locations and prices are available on the web site CNG Prices.com
.98% of all US natural gas imports in 2007 came from the politically stable countries of Canada, Mexico, Qatar, Equatorial Guinea, Algeria and Trinidad (93% from Canada, Mexico and Trinidad).
Of 181 million US registered cars, trucks, and buses, only 0.017% or 30,000 vehicles are fuelled with CNG. To convert an existing gasoline fuelled vehicle to CNG, it takes only a few hours. The cost of a conversion kit and tank is about $3,500. The state of Utah offers a tax credit of $3,000 per new or used vehicle converted to CNG. Questar (STR) not only supplies CNG but it is provides storage and dispensing facilities at existing service centres in Utah and Wyoming. Every state in the US provides an internet listing of CNG dispensing locations. Environmentally, when compared to gasoline vehicles, CNG vehicles reduce:
• Carbon monoxide [CO] by about 70 percent
• Non-methane organic gas [NMOG] by about 87 percent
• Nitrogen oxides (NOx) by about 87 percent
• Carbon dioxide (CO2) by about 20 percent
All Federal, provincial and state government agencies allow CNG powered vehicles.
CNG, which is 90 percent methane, has a much higher octane rating than gasoline, allowing for higher compression ratios and therefore greater efficiency in the engines that use it.

 

good info makes you scratch your head in confusion

 

Yeah I was looking into this, Problem is there are not that many CNG stations to fill at.

Check out this site:

Clean Air Power dual fuel technology natural gas components

 

storys like this make me wonder why people decided to desighn Gasoline engines way back when and when diesel engines provide better torque down low where you need to drive around the city more efficenty. or you can drive around a natural gas vehicle. or even ethanol. so far the only good thing about Gasoline engines is that they create good drag racing engines because they are cabable of high horspower. but even that doesent count because the fastest drag racing are powered by Nitro and Alchol.

 

Heres some more food for thought.. Ft. Worth City busses are all powered by natural gas.. Chesapeake Energy supplies all of that Natural gas free of charge to be able to drill more Natural Gas wells in places that other operators are not allowed to explore like in the Ft. Worth Stockyards and dense residential areas.

Im sure many of ya'll have seen propane powered gasoline vehicles.. This is quite similar.. Natural gas is mainly what onshore drilling in the Lower 48 states is after.. There are really very few drilling rigs running right now in the US that are drilling for crude... Natural gas is cheaper to drill for, easier to produce, less costly to pipeline.. LNG (liquid Natural Gas) Pipelines are quite inexpensive compared to Crude oil Pipelines.. Crude requires steel lines that often have anti corrosive chemicals on them. LNG pipeline are mostly high pressure plastic or Poly line.

One thing that everyone can rule out as a MASS alternative to gasoline is Ethanol.. it would be fine for a few thousand vehicles, but to produce enough ethanol to power any sort of majority of the populations vehicles would be nearly impossible.. We just dont have enough land to grow that corn to produce animal feed & food for people.

There is no doubt in my mind that there will be multiple options to gasoline and diesel in the upcoming years.. For people that dont need power.. they can use electric hybrid cars and or ethanol powered vehicles.. For people needing power like semi-trucks and hotshots diesel,bio,wvo power will be the way to go. Even an inexpensive propane conversion is available for just about EVERY gasoline engine for normal commuting if you prefer to drive a truck instead of a shoebox..

Being in the business that I'm in I would LOVE to see LNG/CNG used as a major fuel source for vehicles. But just like what Diesel-N-Dust said, there are not many places to fill up with Natural gas as of right now. But say you have an old Suburban with a 350 in it getting 10 mpg.. You might look into a propane conversion for cheap and fill up at the local propane shops when you fill your bottles up for the grill.

 

City of Houston buses are powered by CNG as well.

 

All of that is fine and dandy until you decide to go on a road trip. Generally a cng rig has a range of maybe 150 miles or so, correct? Not a big deal if you are never away from your cng station, but you better think twice if you like long road trips.

 

or use the CNG vehicle for around town, city use -- but not for cross country road trips...

btw - our NGL pipelines are 4" - 48" + steel lines and operate at pressures ranging from just under 400 psi to 1500 psi...

the BIG pipeline just started pumping a few weeks ago, and they don't measure it in thousands of barrels or whatever ,they measure it in million/billion ft^3 per day!!!! Its 48" in diameter... SUCKER IS 4FT ACROSS!



and can't you purchase CNG at your local Oklahoma (or insert state here) Natural Gas offices if you don't have a take-off/pump at your house? Its not that hard to put a connection in or have one installed at your house so you can fill the tank at home from your natural gas service...

 

you could always just find a RV park and there you go i don't think i have come across to many that don't have a CNG station in it or near it

 

A couple of questions, is there a conversion kit for CTD's or other diesel engines in our trucks?

Also, can a CNG vehicle also be used with LP Gas?